After a relaxing visit to Capri, we were ready for more. We said goodbye to Aiano and our charming hosts and boarded the boat back to Naples. As we exited the boat ramp, I eyed several decent looking taxis nearby but Chris was determined to take the bus, so we hauled our gear to the nearest bus stop (which wasn't all that near). After a decent wait, a bus came by crammed full of people and we crammed ourselves in there with them. It was not pleasant and I felt my pockets being fingered as Chris swatted some hands from my purse (fortunately all our valuables were buried in our suitcase or in Chris's money belt). Buried twenty people deep in the bus was the ticket stamper and it is the bus policy that you stamp your ticket when you enter the bus. Unable to reach it immediately, Chris waited a few stops until the bus emptied a bit. As he made his way there, a bus official grabbed his ticket and wouldn't let him stamp it. He yelled at some other bus passengers for not stamping their tickets and let them go, but he decided to detain the obvious tourists and charge us a 40 euro fine each for not stamping our tickets! We argued with him for awhile and eventually caved when he dropped one of the fines. Frankly we weren't that impressed with Naples to begin with and the experienced only soured our opinion further. When they say that Naples is a den of thieves, believe it!
Happy to be on a the clean train to Rome in a comfortable seat, I plugged into my Ipod and watched the Italian countryside fly by. Spring was just starting to awaken and I loved the blooming vineyards and orchards along the way. When we arrived in Rome, we took a taxi to our bed and breakfast, the Navona Gardens. The Navona Gardens were lovely. Located near the Piazza Navona on a charming side street lined with shops and restaurants, the Navona Gardens are a collection of small apartments in a 500 year old building (comfortably remodeled). Our comfortable room had a balcony, private bath, and a kitchen that we shared with another room.
Our first adventure was hunting out some amazing gelato. Our host at Navona Gardens recommended Frigiderium and we were not disappointed. For 2 euros, we could pick two of several amazing flavors that were generously scooped onto a cone and then either dressed with fresh whipped cream and a waffle cookie or dipped in dark or white chocolate. Oh. Heaven. We tried other gelaterias but always came back to Frigiderium. It was our favorite by far.
Armed with our gelato, we headed for the Piazza Navona, a large piazza focused around Bernini's Four Rivers fountain. The lively piazza was filled with activity and it was a fun place to people watch. We continued to wander through the streets of Rome on our quest to find its treasures.
Our next stop was the Pantheon, one of my favorite buildings.
We trekked across Rome, stopping at Hadrian's Temple, Trevi Fountain, followed by Borghese Gardens, Piazza Del Popolo, and the Spanish Steps. We wandering along the Via Condutti, the fashion core of Rome, and back to Piazza Navona for dinner.
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| Hadrian's Temple |
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| Chris tossing a coin over his shoulder at Trevi Fountain |
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| Piazza del Popolo |
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| Piazza del Popolo |
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| Babington's Tea Room, at the base of the Spanish Steps |
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| Spanish Steps |
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| View from the Spanish Steps |
The Italian dinner culture took a little getting used to. Most restaurants don't open until at least 7-7:30pm, and after all the walking we were starving by 6. However, our wait was always rewarded with amazing food. We read in our guidebooks that you need to choose your restaurant wisely while visiting Rome as you can find yourself in a tourist trap eating overpriced food cooked in a microwave, a fact confirmed by our Navona Gardens host. Apparently a lot of wine bars started serving food to tourists but the food is basically frozen dinners microwaved in the back. Our host recommended looking for places in the side streets and making sure they had a kitchen in the back. He recommended Cybo, a modern Italian restaurant run by a chef who had apprenticed at a five star restaurant and had recently left to open his own place. We were not disappointed by the experience. After we were seated, the waiter brought us a complementary apparitivo; slightly embarrassed, I explained that we don't drink alcohol. He graciously told us not to worry and had the bar tender make us a strawberry drink that was alcohol free (and absolutely delicious!). We started with an appetizer of eggplant, bufala mozzarella, tomatoes, basil creme all stacked in a neat tower. For our primi piati, Chris had ravioloni with walnuts, bacon and a spinach creme sauce and I had gnocchetti with gamberetti, asparagi, porcini, and pomodori. We finished the meal with a large insalata mista (mixed salad) and left satisfied indeed.
After dinner, we wandered through the open book stores near our b&b and found some darling children's books. We stopped by Frigiderium for a little dessert before heading home.
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